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Dan
Bainey Wins Race of Survival at CNB Bank Raceway Park Super Cup
Opener
Clearfield,
Pennsylvania (May 17, 2015) – Hometown racer Dan Bainey
outlasted a host of mechanical issues from his closest competitors,
a late charge from veteran Harvey Harrison, and even the impending
weather to take his first career win in only his second Super Cup
Stock Car Series start.
The Window World 75
presented by RH2 held at CNB Bank Raceway Park in Clearfield,
Pennsylvania saw four different leaders during its distance. Bainey
took the top spot from 2014 opening race winner Brent Nelson with 
less than 20 laps remaining after a late restart.
“I thought I
burned the tires off, and thought I don’t think I can get around
(Brent Nelson),” Bainey commented after the race.
“That last restart, he said he had an issue, and I wasn’t
going to give up at the end there.
They said 10 laps to go and my ears were ringing; the
excitement kicked in. I
think my heartrate was up to 150 there for a while.”
Nelson appeared to
be the machine to beat for a majority of the race, but was one of
many that dealt with an assortment of gremlins on this early
Saturday evening.
“Bittersweet;
glad we finished third, but man, we wanted that win,” Nelson said.
“That last restart when 
my car came out of four my car just
went flat. Handling-wise
the car was dialed in. I
could run high or low, wherever I wanted to, but we just got an
ignition problem. We’re
going to have to find it and be ready for the next race.”
Prior to Nelson
inheriting the lead 2013 series Rookie of the Year Codie Rohrbaugh
had been the class of the field, leading practice and winning the
pole award. He quickly
climbed from his sixth place redraw starting position and had the
lead in the opening laps.
Unfortunately, the
strong performance would come to an end abruptly on a restart that
would conclude his night in the turn one outside wall.
“We really just
kind of got up to the front and we were just maintaining a good
pace,” Rohrbaugh recapped. “I
wasn’t driving the car hard at all.
Then on the restart the throttle hung and we about knocked
down the wall.”
Rohrbaugh was
serving in a substitute role for his grandfather Larry Berg, who was
not able to compete due to a recent surgery.
A thankful Rohrbaugh was happy to be driving given the
circumstances that occurred.
“The first thing
that went through my mind was I was glad I was driving and not him
when I hit the wall,” Rohrbaugh continued.
With some of the
top competitors sidelined or out of contention, Bainey still had one
car to fight off in the remaining laps.
Harvey Harrison’s machine came to life and at times peeked
under Bainey in search for the lead.
The three-time series winner was ecstatic with the runner up
achievement, his best finish in nearly three years.
“I tried to save
the tires because it seemed like every time I ran real hard it would
just start sliding worse and worse, but the problem about saving
tires is the leaders can get away from you,” Harrison explained.
“At the end there I needed a 100 lap race, but this is
fine. We had a blast,
and I’m not complaining.”
From the beginning,
it looked like Harvey’s recent bad luck would continue into 2015.
On the first pace lap he made contact with the 2014 series
champion JJ Pack and damaged the right front of his car.
Crew members from multiple teams assisted in patching it up
to get the Renick, West Virginia driver back in the starting field
for the green flag.
“I was looking in
the mirror, and should have been looking in front of me,” Harrison
admitted. “JJ must
have stopped to adjust his belts or something, and once I looked up
there he was.
Nelson held on for
a third place finish with Brian Harrison coming home in fourth after
running in the top five for the entire race.
2014 two-time CNB winner Pack led laps early but fought
battery issues. He
recovered for a fifth place result.
For Bainey and his
popular Days of Thunder-themed new paint scheme, it was definitely a
meaningful first victory in front of his hometown crowd.
“Friends from
high school, church, and college (were here) so it’s definitely
the place I wanted to win,” Bainey said.
This was the first
Super Cup Stock Car Series event at the 5/8-mile facility under the
operation of Dan’s older brother Tim Bainey Jr.’s.
Although the open practice on Friday had been canceled and
the threat of ominous weather hovering over the track on Saturday
caused some schedule adjustments to occur, the unique promotion of
free admission turned out to be a success.
“I’ve just got
to thank the fans so much for coming out,” Bainey Jr. said.
“That’s what we need here to keep things going.
The hillside was packed, there were a lot of people in the
grandstands, and we are just proud to be a part of the Super Cup
Stock Car Series.”
From a family and
team member standpoint, it was definitely a rewarding sight for him
to see in the end as well.
“It was so much
fun to see my brother out there,” Bainey Jr. concluded.
“It was a good race, he had to work for it, and it was
pretty cool to get a win here at our home track.
It’s going to be a fun season.”
The 2015 schedule
rolls on to its annual stop at Columbus Motor Speedway in Ohio in
mid-June, followed by another visit to CNB Bank Raceway Park later
in the month.
Continued
information, video, and photos are available at the official web
site www.supercupstockcarseries.com
as well as on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SCSCSRacing
or on Twitter @SCSCSRacing.
Click
here for Results
Click
here for Points Standings
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